In this commonsense book, Dr. Gershwin and Dr. Klingelhofer offer sensible, practical strategies for identifying the substances that cause allergies (allergens), the symptoms they cause, ways exposure to allergens can be avoided or reduced, and ways you can relieve the symptoms. Living Allergy Free also treats some reactions that are commonly assumed to be allergies, but are really sensitivity or irritant reactions, shows how they can be distinguished from true allergies, and tells you what to do about them. If you suffer from allergies-or if you think you do-Living Allergy Free is just what...

Although the mechanisms and triggers that stimulate and are responsible for the natural history ofasthma are steadily being more clearly defined, uncertainties still surround both the genetic basis and the etiologyofone of the most common syndromes in the world. In fact, it is ofconsider- able concern and interest that the incidence of asthma today appears to be rising. These statistical increments may only reflect an increasing awareness of the disease, or its earlier and more sophisticated diagnosis. More important, however, asthma mortality appears to be increasing. This increase has...

Those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt. SAMUEL JoHNSON, The Rambler, no. 48 (September 1, 1750) Who among us has not experienced the suffering of a patient with chronic disease, who in addition to the vicissitudes of fatigue, anxiety, and frustration, must also deal with the suffering of pain? Who among us has not considered, and then reconsidered, whether a patient's complaints are worthy of a narcotic and thence worried about the social and legal implications of chronic use? Who among us has not refused pain medications to our patients for fear that use was turning into...

Several years ago, two of us published a full-length textbook entitled Nutrition and Immunology: Principles and Practice. The book was aca- demically successful and well received by our peers. Our colleagues commented that while the book was eminently suitable for a library, there was still an intellectual need for a more concise volume on nutrition and immunology for health care providers and scientists working at the inter- face of delivering therapeutic and/or preventive health care. We agreed and decided that a book focused on issues relevant to laboratory workers and to developing...